Paper Tigers
by EeveeMistress
Summary: Most likely OOC. First story in AGES. Ash gets an MP4 from his sister(long story), and a direction. How does this involve Misty? I don't know if this is actual Angst qualification, but whatever. T 'cause I'm paranoid about that stuff. ONE-SHOT. COMPLETE. Oh, and don't ask where Pikachu went... Let's just say he's eating ketchup, kay? NOTE: Like the cover? Think I should change it?


Author's Note

Me: Hi! I'm Miss V, posting something!

N: First AN ever written for you and me that we plan on posting soon, huh?

Me: Probably not too soon. But… Hopefully!

Paper Tigers

Ashton 'Ash' Ketchum looked at the MP4 his sister had just given him.

"Listen to Track Twelve," she'd told him.

He knew better than to cross the redhead, so the now-fourteen-year-old boy sat in the Pokemon Center room with his headphones on, listening to Track Twelve out of around... Umm, every song that existed, or so it seemed.

She had everything from Owl City to rap tracks.

The song she had made him listen to happened to be Owl City.

_Well I've been huddled up alone_

_By the fire even though_

_I'm not exactly feeling cold_

_And I've been bundled up for days_

_Too confused to be amazed_

_At all the icy water in my veins_

Wow. How had Alice known which track to tell him to listen to? ...Oh, right, she could probably read his mind. It wouldn't have surprised him, actually. She had some weird psychic powers. But he was pretty sure he knew what Alice was getting at... And this song, if he was right about her intentions, was perfect.

He was sure Alice was trying to help him figure out stuff with Misty. Sure of it.

_Why do I feel so alone?_

_Yeah_, he thought. _Why? I have my _twin sister,_ Brock, May and Max._ _So why _do_ I feel alone?_

_Yeah I've been moving in and out_

_Of this old split-level house_

_And I'd just as soon burn the whole place down_

_'Cause I quit working lumberyards_

_To build a mansion out of cards_

_But I feel thin behind these paper walls_

He wasn't sure what that meant... But he kinda liked some of Owl City's songs and he was used to random nonsense here and there.

_Why do I feel so alone?_

Again the question came to mind, and he whispered it aloud. "Why do I feel so alone?"

_'Cause the angriest bark is always worse than the bite_

_Like the ache in my chest that my heart didn't invite_

_But if the prettiest romance isn't perfectly right_

_That makes every love lost just a holiday every night_

Yeah, Misty's bark was usually worse than her bite.

How could he be so sure?

Well, she had, countless times, threatened to kill him, or worse, make him watch Barney and Dora for all eternity, and it hadn't happened.

He was still alive when she was done with him. Just maimed. Or seriously injured.

_Well I've been painting through the night_

_In the basement out of sight_

_Brushing paper tigers black and white_

_'Cause come tomorrow afternoon_

_I'll fill a helium balloon_

_And set them free into the baby blue sky_

_So they won't have to be alone_

He was tired of feeling alone, but it was useless.

Misty had a gym to run, after all.

_'Cause the angriest bark is always worse than the bite_

_Like the ache in my chest that my heart didn't invite_

_But if the prettiest romance isn't perfectly right_

_That makes every love lost just a holiday every night_

It felt... wrong. The fact that she wasn't there felt wrong.

It felt right for the couple of days she'd returned, and things had been better...

But then she'd left him. Again.

_But when I close these heavy lids after dark_

_Each sweet dream is a target_

_And all my shots are so consistently wide of the mark_

That was true.

Every night, he could see the dreams he wished for, but they were just out of reach.

_'Cause the angriest bark is always worse than the bite_

_Like the ache in my chest that my heart didn't invite_

_But if the prettiest romance isn't perfectly right_

_That makes every love lost just a holiday every night_

_Just a holiday every night_

_Just a holiday every night_

_Just a holiday every night_

He supposed he'd have to move on eventually, but he distracted himself with other things to avoid it.

He didn't want to move on... He just wanted his best friend back.

Maybe as more than just a best friend.

_Well I've been huddled up alone_

_By the fire even though_

_I'm not exactly feeling cold_

How true could music be? He had actually done that a couple of times... Made a fire even though it was warm out, in the middle of the day, even though he certainly wasn't cold.

He wondered why Alice had told him to listen to this briefly once more, then realised something.

The day Misty left, Alice's best friend, Nicolas, had had to leave, too.

He could recall her singing some of the words from the song and doing the same things every now and then until he'd rejoined them.

_But how my heartache hit the trail_

_When a paper tiger tail_

_Fluttered down, I guess I'll never know_

_Well_, he thought, _Let's hope a paper tiger tail flutters down to _me.

He recalled seeing his sister working on art earlier, and, after saving the song to a playlist, walked to the room she had taken to borrow some supplies.

Author's Note B

Me: Hiya, y'all! Sorry about all that OOC-ness above.

N: And for not introducing Alice earlier.

Me: This is the first fic I'll probably upload, OK, N? Yeah, you Black and White fans know this guy, right? My assistant.

N: If you didn't guess already, this takes place somewhere earlier on in the Advanced series, and Alice is Ash's twin sister.

Me: I plan on this being just an extra to a fic involving _all_ characters. Rewriting the anime to fit in Leaf, Ash having a sister(I've wanted to write it out for _soooo_ long, and… Well, let's just say there are some other OCs on the way.)

N: Have fun with that, Miss V.


End file.
